cherry blossoms, DC

Hey all – I’m on vacation with my family right now after an awesome trip to DC with Biz and an amazing engagement photo shoot. It’s been warm and wonderful here — blooming, spring TOTALLY…. i can’t wait for it to come into Erie. :-)

Anyway – I just wanted to blog an update on our family. I was going to keep this personal with some close friends, but more prayer is never BAD, and my Grandma Koos especially is very open about her situation.

My dad’s mother (in England-Nan, Grandma Mason) died semi-suddenly last Thursday night. I say semi because she’s been struggling for a while, and the last few months have been rough, but I don’t think anyone expected it this suddenly. My father is flying to England on Tuesday and the funeral is this week. It is a tricky one because we feel very disconnected from it, but just pray for my dad and the family, … it’s tough being so far away. I am sad it’s been years since I’d seen her, and I feel conflicted about the grief in this situation.

Also, we’ve gotten a few recent updates on my grandmother’s (Betty, mom’s mom) health…. her lymphedema and pain level, cough has been increasingly worse and worse. She is on 3x a week physical therapy for her legs. Anyway, about 2 weeks ago a doctor shocked us with the news that she thinks her time is very limited – in fact, not sure if she’ll make it another 6 months due to the speed the cancer is spreading through her lymph nodes and the amount of pain she is in. Then on Friday, they had an appointment with a diff cancer doctor – this one’s prognosis was worse – not sure she’ll make it through the summer, maybe more like 3 months. I think we are all reeling with this information, it hit me particularly hard last night. If her legs, hard and swollen and painful from the lymphedema caused by radiation/chemo could improve, I believe her last months could be lived out in much greater comfort. Hospice has been called in and I believe have started attending to her already – and they are beginning to make some funeral plans. I know the family and all of us who love her want to spend as much time with her as humanly possible… and that will be hard and overwhelming. Pray for her legs to improve so her last months can be better.

This is all so confusing… weird, thinking that we have been blessed enough to not lose any grandparents, and now it’s sort of happening all in the same year. Although nothing is set in stone, who knows how much time God really has for Gramma Koos. She is so incredible, so amazing, I just want to spend every moment I can with her now. I love you Gramma!!!!

And yet – here’s what I can say. My family are Christians – and therefore I know where they will be. And my Gramma Koos is ready for the Lord, and her faith is what started my entire family on the journey we’ve been on – and thinking of her in heaven with Christ is one of the most joyful things I can think about.

I don’t want to jump ahead of myself – there is still time – she’s still here! And we’ll spend our time together with joy – no matter how much is left. And who knows, I could die tomorrow. …. none of us know what time we have here on this earth. Let’s make the most of it, and know that we are secure in our Maker.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 9:56 am and is filed under family, flowers, God, seasons, spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.